[HN Gopher] AMD Laptops finally reach the 4k screen barrier
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       AMD Laptops finally reach the 4k screen barrier
        
       Author : basilgohar
       Score  : 88 points
       Date   : 2021-10-18 16:27 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (amd-now.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (amd-now.com)
        
       | glogla wrote:
       | How is Linux support on those? And how is Linux support on
       | 4k/HiDPI in general?
       | 
       | I'm thinking of replacing aging Macbook Pro and those look pretty
       | good.
        
         | KingMachiavelli wrote:
         | HiDPI on Linux is certainly not as good as MacOS (from what
         | I've heard) or Windows but it _can_ be decent. If you are on
         | Wayland than display scaling both integer and fractional works
         | pretty well. Scaling older X11 /Xwayland applications can be a
         | bit of a pain so sometimes those windows look blurry.
         | 
         | 4K itself without any scaling works perfectly fine so I
         | typically try to get laptops and monitors with a DPI between
         | 100 and 140 so that I don't have to worry about scaling. Higher
         | resolutions on smaller screens i.e laptops also use more power
         | anyway.
        
           | leephillips wrote:
           | On my 2013 Google Chromebook Pixel (running real Linux) I set
           | Xft.dpi: 240 in my .Xresources file, matching the screen
           | resolution. Seems to work well. I'm not sure what "scaling"
           | is. Is that it? I wouldn't want to use a 140 dpi screen,
           | unless it were a big one mounted 6 feet or so away.
        
           | saghm wrote:
           | I currently use a 4K monitor and a 2K monitor side by side
           | for my work with 1.5x scaling on the 4K monitor, so things
           | are the same size on both. Gnome only allowed integer scaling
           | by default, but IIRC I enabled fractional scaling with a
           | dconf setting that I found through googling. I don't have any
           | issues with this setup, although obviously things look more
           | clear on the 4K monitor, so some people might not like the
           | disparity.
        
           | basilgohar wrote:
           | Thanks for sharing. I run my 4k monitor at home at 1:1 so I
           | don't use (and don't need) scaling, but nice to hear someone
           | else had some experience with it. I always worry about the
           | lag on desktop features with Linux, but I've generally not
           | had problems in recent years with Fedora, for example.
        
         | basilgohar wrote:
         | ThinkPads overall tend to have great Linux support. Being AMD-
         | only tends to improve that. The wireless networking drivers and
         | sometimes features like brightness adjustment and Fn-based
         | functionality are where there tends to be issues on early
         | release but they are usually addressed quickly as adoption
         | increases and more kernel devs look into reported issues.
         | 
         | I'd love to buy some of these and do full-on reviews but the
         | funding isn't there yet. AMDNow! currently makes me exactly
         | zero dollars.
        
         | ccouzens wrote:
         | I use fedora gnome desktop and although it could be better, I'm
         | happy with the scaling.
         | 
         | The native apps like the terminal and Firefox scale perfectly.
         | When in-between screens one screen may show the window very
         | zoomed in, but when totally on one screen it will show
         | correctly.
         | 
         | Apps which still use x11 (Chrome, Steam, vscode, anything
         | electron) show at the scale factor of the primary monitor.
         | They're perfectly fine if you only use one monitor. When I have
         | multiple monitors I make sure the x11 windows are on my
         | externals (as they're the same scaling factor and one of them
         | is my primary).
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | oofabz wrote:
         | Linux support for HiDPI is not great. GTK3 apps are scaled
         | appropriately, but GTK2 apps are not, and there are still quite
         | a few of those, like GIMP. Such apps are displayed ridiculously
         | tiny on a 4k display with unreadably small text.
         | 
         | I've heard that if you use Wayland, these older apps get pixel
         | scaled up, but most Linux distros have spotty support for
         | Wayland, so getting it running can be labor intensive.
        
       | shmerl wrote:
       | T14 (AMD Gen 2 with Zen 3) has a higher res config too. But how
       | useful is such resolution on 14" laptop? Can you see a big
       | difference? And I'd imagine it comes at the shorter battery life
       | price as well.
        
         | basilgohar wrote:
         | Many folks have commented on both sides - lots of folks think
         | it's overkill and lots of other folks that have actually used
         | those screens like it as it provides an overall higher quality
         | display and viewing experience for sharpness and crispness of
         | anti-aliased text and more.
         | 
         | If you do not have good near-sighted vision, it's
         | understandable if the feature is not that appealing to you.
        
           | shmerl wrote:
           | I see. I found it more surprising that there was no 2.5K
           | option in between which could offer good balance between
           | improved quality and not draining the battery too much.
        
       | IntelMiner wrote:
       | I'm surprised at the authors reverence for the Lenovo T14. I
       | purchased one in September of last year and returned it in less
       | than a month!
       | 
       | While it was quite performant, the screen shipped with it was
       | unusably color inaccuarate. Reviews online stating that it had a
       | color accuracy of just 37% NTSC.
       | 
       | In addition to having horrible color accuracy in general usage
       | (tomatoes would look like oranges for instance) using something
       | like "F.Lux" or "Windows Nightlight" would cause this level of
       | color-inaccuracy to appear
       | 
       | Windows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgjqeDF9c50
       | 
       | Linux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhLBx4mmPrM
       | 
       | Microsoft's own demo of the technology shows what it "should"
       | look like on a more proper display
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QCRDn8-qLo#t=1m58s
        
         | basilgohar wrote:
         | Very glad to hear your insight. I have not purchased one myself
         | yet for lack of a detailed review of most of these.
         | 
         | I wouldn't say I "revere" there, rather, I am just glad the
         | options exist as all. I am hopeful for a network effect.
         | 
         | Historically, however, the T series of ThinkPads have been
         | excellent. My wife used to have one and many others did as
         | well, and its legacy extended into the Lenovo era.
         | 
         | Edit: I was specifically talking about the AMD T14s,
         | specifically, so not sure if that's germane to your issue.
        
           | rincebrain wrote:
           | For quick reference on my AMD T14 with the 500nit display:
           | 
           | https://www.dropbox.com/s/knsjnbw6875buwo/PXL_20211018_17194.
           | ..
           | 
           | (I do not have similar complaints about the color accuracy,
           | personally, but I'm not especially sensitive to them.)
        
             | basilgohar wrote:
             | I will take your word for it, but I think captured video of
             | screens' performance is probably not going to relay what
             | you want to show in the best light (pun slightly intended).
             | 
             | As I said elsewhere, I don't doubt the issues folks are
             | having, and I hope more people raise it. It's important
             | they are known and the OEMs address them. The comment has
             | definitely sparked good discussion in the thread so far.
             | 
             | I may cover that in future articles, too.
        
               | rincebrain wrote:
               | Sure, you're going through six degrees of color
               | reproduction, my purpose was primarily to illustrate that
               | I did not see mistaking the color of a tomato for an
               | orange as likely in my case.
        
         | thereddaikon wrote:
         | The market in which T series ThinkPads are normally sold value
         | screen quality at the bottom. We order them by the truckload it
         | seems and we always opt for the cheapest, crappiest screen they
         | have.
         | 
         | Why? because these are business computers that spend all day
         | looking displaying boring business applications. The most
         | interesting thing they do is Zoom meetings.
         | 
         | We even get sub 1080p displays because, no shit, they are a
         | waste on many of our users who have less than stellar eyesight.
         | You may wonder why we don't just use the desktop sclaing
         | feature in Windows 10. And thats because more than one of our
         | niche industry specific core applications is completely
         | incompatible with it. And if you try to use it the interface
         | will become horribly mangled with missing text and interface
         | elements that are impossible to click.
         | 
         | T series are great business computers but they aren't always
         | the best choice for everyone. The best display they offer is
         | just OK. Not great. But this isn't a given across the line.
         | Lenovo does have models with great screens. Just not the T
         | series.
        
       | tomtheelder wrote:
       | 4k on laptops is sort of an anti-feature for me, personally. It
       | doesn't really improve my experience much, and often costs a lot
       | of battery life.
        
         | undersuit wrote:
         | Agreed; I have a Google Pixelbook Go with a 1080p 13.3" screen.
         | The native resolution of my screen is 80% scaling, while I run
         | at "100%" scaling or "Looks like 1536 x 864". Native resolution
         | turns it into a chesttop instead of a laptop.
         | 
         | Maybe if I bought a 17" laptop I could consider 4k.
        
         | babypuncher wrote:
         | The real irony is their popularity on "gaming" laptops, where
         | the 4k display results in noticeably worse game performance
         | while not looking any better to the naked eye than a 1440p
         | screen probably would.
        
         | 3np wrote:
         | I wish we'd have more 2k laptops; for me that's the sweet spot.
         | 1080p decidedly too little, 4k overkill.
         | 
         | But then I'm one of those people who run with really small
         | fonts, apparently.
        
           | toast0 wrote:
           | FWIW, 4k is X x 2160 (where X is usually somewhere between
           | 4096 (4k) and 3840), so 1080p which is usually 1920 x 1080 is
           | effectively 2k.
           | 
           | It looks like there are some 1440p and 1800p standardish
           | resolutions that probably make sense as a middle ground.
        
             | 3np wrote:
             | Huh, seems I'm confused with the terminology. Min 1440p is
             | what I'm referring to, in either case.
        
               | toast0 wrote:
               | That's because the terminology is dumb! Or at least, very
               | misleading, since it's anchored on a different part of
               | the spec than the previous dominant terminology
        
           | leephillips wrote:
           | That's one of several reasons I still like my 2013 Google
           | Chromebook Pixel (runs normal Linux pretty well).
        
           | Darmody wrote:
           | You have now some with 3k resolution, 16:10 ratio.
           | 
           | I hope we get to see more of those.
        
         | basilgohar wrote:
         | You're not wrong. I would have preferred having the option of
         | 2.5k instead of going all the way to 4k, but 4k is something I
         | would choose to make use of with scaling for a clearer, crisper
         | view of text when coding. I like working up close with my
         | screen and, so far, thankfully, I have excellent near vision,
         | so the appeal is there for me.
        
         | dbg31415 wrote:
         | After a decade plus on a MacBook Pro, it always blows me away
         | looking at non-retina displays. At this point, anything less
         | than 4k might as well be a monochrome monitor limited to 80
         | characters per line. It just looks so dated and hideous. And
         | when someone sends me screenshots that aren't from a 4k
         | monitor... oof. Like, "Guys can you go re-do that deck on a
         | computer that doesn't take quarters to operate?" Ha.
        
         | secondcoming wrote:
         | I have a 4k, 17" laptop and I've concluded that it's largely
         | pointless. Everything needs to be scaled up anyway to make it
         | usable.
        
           | matsemann wrote:
           | That scaling isn't like a zoom, though. It makes letters
           | crisper, borders pixel perfect etc.
        
             | short12 wrote:
             | This is an important distinction that some get fooled by.
             | It's the same physical size when scales but is
             | substantially more crisp
        
               | StillBored wrote:
               | Particularly if you disable subpixel anti-aliasing
               | because the color fringing is distracting.
               | 
               | I'm not so sure about 2k/3k screens @ 14" though. 1080p
               | is about right for 1:1 scaling, but isn't sharp with
               | smaller fonts. If one is going to scale the screen 2k
               | definitely isn't enough to get that "smooth" look.
               | 
               | I tend to run fedora/kde these days though, and the
               | scaling there is pretty bulletproof @ 4k/14". Once in a
               | while something will fail to scale properly, but its
               | rare.
        
         | matsemann wrote:
         | It can be a bit overkill, and I run with 250% scale. Having
         | something matching 200% scale would have lead to less
         | artifacts. (or 300%, I guess)
         | 
         | However, when used to it, it's hard to go back.
        
         | petepete wrote:
         | I bought a 4k ThinkPad X1 Carbon in 2019 and I love it, but in
         | retrospect I totally should've bought the 1440p model. On a 14"
         | screen you just don't appreciate the resolution.
        
           | pkulak wrote:
           | And now they don't even make a 1440p model. What the hell?
           | You have to choose between 1080p and 4k, one which is too
           | low, and one too high.
        
         | therealunreal wrote:
         | Understood, but after using the Surface Book at 3000x2000@13.5"
         | (267 PPI), I'm spoiled. The text is a lot better.
        
         | anyfoo wrote:
         | You must never use PDFs then. On a MacBook, it's amazing to see
         | what a difference HiDPI makes.
        
           | pkulak wrote:
           | It's about have the _right_ resolution. On a 13-inch screen,
           | that's about 1440p. On 15, it's 1800p. Both are HiDPI, but
           | neither are 4k, which I do agree, is a waste and actually
           | causes scaling issues.
        
             | anyfoo wrote:
             | Does not cause any scaling issue on macOS, ever, so that's
             | a software issue.
             | 
             | And scaling PDFs on the screen to be next to code is
             | really, really better with HiDPI.
        
         | short12 wrote:
         | I am the exact opposite. If a laptop isnt 4k it isn't even a
         | contender. 4k really makes a huge difference to me because the
         | image quality is that much better. Battery life is generally
         | shit on all laptops whether it has 4k or not.
         | 
         | So this is good news from amd because I like them much more
         | than Intel
        
           | wing-_-nuts wrote:
           | I'd encourage you to plug in the screen size and resolution
           | into a calculator like https://stari.co/tv-monitor-viewing-
           | distance-calculator before making a decision that it's
           | required. A 4k display is 'retina' at distances much closer
           | than people sit, even at 27". On a laptop size screen, it's
           | even worse.
           | 
           | I have a xps 13 and I specifically chose the 1080p version.
           | Even at that res I still have to zoom / scale.
        
             | acdha wrote:
             | How's your vision? The difference for me is noticeable even
             | without glasses -- even on a 13" display, the higher
             | resolution display is quite obvious since you don't see
             | visible pixel boundaries and I find it's less strain over
             | the course of a day.
             | 
             | (And to be clear, I'm not asking to be mean -- I have
             | multiple friends who were skeptical about retina displays,
             | got an updated eye exam, and became huge fans)
        
             | akvadrako wrote:
             | There isn't any need to plug something into a calculator -
             | the difference in text clarity is immediately obvious.
             | 
             | 4K is a little overkill for a 14" screen, but I understand
             | why the jump instead of making custom resolutions.
        
             | tomc1985 wrote:
             | I can clearly see the pixels on a 13" or 15" laptop display
             | at 1080p. It doesn't start looking seamless until 1440p or
             | so. The advantages of 4K depend heavily on the quality of
             | your eyesight
        
             | short12 wrote:
             | I have an xps 13 and specifically chose the 4k. I love it
             | and there is no going back to 1080p for me. When I am using
             | the dock it is connected to a pair of 4k 27" dells and it's
             | glorious all around
        
               | The_Colonel wrote:
               | What you _might_ be seeing is actually the difference
               | between matte and glossy display. I was like you, seeing
               | how supreme 4K panel was ... until I saw glossy 1080p
               | which was much sharper than 1080p matte (which desharpen
               | the image) and not much different from 4K (to my eyes).
               | 
               | (all comparisons took place on XPS 13s)
        
             | basilgohar wrote:
             | Different people see things differently. Pixels may not be
             | individually resolvable, but that is far from the only
             | feature that impacts viewing quality. Anti-aliased fonts
             | will look clearer and smoother at smaller sizes on a higher
             | resolution screen. Lines will be sharper. Those with better
             | near vision can pack more details into the page.
        
               | wing-_-nuts wrote:
               | Yep, I think this is called 'subpixel visual acuity' and
               | there is a marginal benefit
        
               | basilgohar wrote:
               | I would argue it depends on the person. I'd love to be
               | able to test this independently myself, but I don't have
               | enough cash to spare to do so.
               | 
               | If you're aware of folks testing this, it'd be great to
               | share that. The fact remains that 4k displays have been
               | available for non-AMD laptops for a very long time (at
               | least a few years) so they keep making them and people
               | keep buying them, so I'd like that arrangement to be
               | offered at least for AMD laptops as well, because it's
               | definitely something lots of people, as this thread
               | clearly demonstrates.
        
           | hangonhn wrote:
           | What is it that you do that requires 4k? Genuinely curious.
           | I'm a software engineer and to me 4k sounds like it wouldn't
           | make a difference. But maybe you are one too and I just don't
           | know any better. Thanks in advance.
        
             | eulers_secret wrote:
             | I like the extra screen space 4K offers; but only on large
             | screens. I run without any scaling (well, 100%), my editor
             | offers 101 lines visible vertical and 470 columns. (each
             | line is ~1/4" measured on a ruler; 27" screen 23" from my
             | eyes)
             | 
             | I can view ~6 open files at once (more depending), and this
             | can be very helpful when trying to remember context:
             | instead of remembering, I just split the screen and open
             | the same file again.
             | 
             | When I got a 4K monitor, it replaced my previous dual
             | monitor setup. I now prefer just one high-res monitor. Only
             | disadvantage is that I spend time tweaking font sizes, but
             | that's mostly front-loaded and once it's set up (Linux) I
             | don't even think about it.
        
             | indeyets wrote:
             | Eye strain is much lower on 4k because fonts are smoother.
             | It's not about screen estate (but sometimes it is, if you
             | really need it), but mostly about clarity and smoothness in
             | 2x retina mode
        
             | lultimouomo wrote:
             | For me the only, huge, selling point of 4k is text
             | rendering. I could watch movies, do graphics or play games
             | on a full HD screen all day long, but for programming I
             | cannot go back.
        
             | mike_pol wrote:
             | Text looks sooo much better in 4K. Antialiasing especially
             | around curves kills text for me in 1080p. Plus if you have
             | good eyesight you can fit more text on your screen.
        
               | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
               | 1440p would have the same result on a tiny screen.
        
               | short12 wrote:
               | Personal experience but no. 1440p doesn't even come close
        
           | t-writescode wrote:
           | How close are you sitting to your 4k, presumably like 15
           | inch, screen? Or, how good is your vision?
           | 
           | A 4k, 15 inch screen is "retina" at 12 inches away and has a
           | ppi of 293.72.
           | 
           | There may be something to be said about subpixels; but, it
           | may be a placebo effect over a 1440p screen, honestly.
        
         | Aardwolf wrote:
         | It is an advantage if you want to connect it to a large monitor
         | and mirror the displays to have the same desktop on both
         | screens
        
       | post_break wrote:
       | It's lenovo so is there still a display lottery for such display?
       | 50/50 chance to get one that is garbage?
        
         | basilgohar wrote:
         | It would be nice if this were accurately tracked somewhere so
         | it can be called out and Lenovo being shamed for offering. If
         | you have references to where this is logged, it'd be great.
         | I've not heard of such a problem independently, but I'm
         | interested in knowing more about that.
        
       | ldng wrote:
       | Trusted Lenovo with the A485 to have a good Ryzen laptop. Never
       | again. Thinkpad is really loosing its edge.
        
       | StillBored wrote:
       | The P14 has reasonable ram configurations from what I can tell.
       | Its insane to think that 16G max on a 16 thread processor is
       | enough for any serious workloads that scale with core count (aka
       | a lot of them) as is provided with the T14. But I still don't get
       | why lenovo still provides _soldered_ ram at all on the T/P series
       | machines, I've been repeatedly gimped by that with my work
       | provided machines (besides the inability to match timings when
       | the socket has 2x the capacity installed/etc).
       | 
       | But what I really want to know is where the full bios manual is,
       | so that I can see if its possible to enable S3 standby. My use
       | case for a laptop generally involves putting it in my bag
       | overnight/etc and I expect the battery to basically be where I
       | left it over the weekend/etc. I've yet to have a "modern standby"
       | machine that can pull that off without hibernating the machine.
       | Frequently even with hibernation it will wake repeatedly and
       | drain the battery anyway. Toss in the fact that i've not had good
       | luck with AMD machines power savings and that makes it doubly
       | important that S3 works.
       | 
       | The lack of a pre-installed linux option doesn't provide much
       | confidence.
       | 
       | Acer and some of the smaller vendors seem to be the only ones
       | providing a full suite of BIOS options on their machines (they
       | also have two dimm slots). The problem is that their machines are
       | plasticy and have crummy form factors.
        
         | akvadrako wrote:
         | I have the 2019 X1 Carbon which has BIOS options for S3 Suspend
         | and S0ix Modern Standby. In my tests both use the same amount
         | of power when sleeping.
        
         | Brave-Steak wrote:
         | I've given up. I disable hibernation and I shutdown my laptop
         | whenever I used to put it to sleep. It's bizarre that
         | standby/hibernation no longer works reliably.
        
         | dataflow wrote:
         | > I still don't get why lenovo still provides _soldered_ ram at
         | all on the T/P series machines
         | 
         | Cynical take: so you buy it, then realize it's soldered, then
         | buy another computer?
         | 
         | > But what I really want to know is where the full bios manual
         | is, so that I can see if its possible to enable S3 standby.
         | 
         | Some Lenovo laptops that come with Windows have a "Sleep State"
         | option that you can switch from "Windows 10" to "Linux", which
         | I think is what disables Modern Standby? I've seen C3 be
         | enabled by one of the options on a recent Lenovo, I think it
         | was probably that setting.
        
           | ChuckNorris89 wrote:
           | _> Cynical take: so you buy it, then realize it's soldered,
           | then buy another computer?_
           | 
           | Bingo! That's why they're all getting a big middle finger
           | from me, and I'm gonna walk the walk and take my money to
           | Framework as all the others try to push you to their premium-
           | buisness-ripoff lines of machines if you want a laptop with
           | more than 16 gigs of RAM.
           | 
           | FFS, just because I need 32 or 64 gigs of RAM doesn't mean I
           | want a $4000 workstation enterprise machine with all the
           | bells and whistles I will never use. Just give me your
           | regular $1000 machine and bill me for the difference to 32/64
           | gigs.
        
             | mnl wrote:
             | You can look up such details before buying in
             | https://psref.lenovo.com. Then usually the hardware
             | maintenance manual is available in support, that's the main
             | reason why I end up getting their laptops, although their
             | obnoxious wireless card whitelists (don't trust
             | "compatible" FRUs BTW) make me always look elsewhere in the
             | first place.
        
             | nix0n wrote:
             | If you don't care about "workstation" branding, or out-of-
             | the-box Linux compatibility, you can get a high-RAM laptop
             | by looking at gaming laptops.
        
               | basilgohar wrote:
               | This is also true. Gaming laptops tend to have a nice
               | blend of performance features that lend them well to
               | overall performance in may cases, but likely not focusing
               | on super long battery life.
               | 
               | It'd be great if there was a marketing push for gaming
               | laptop-like performance without all the gaming
               | embellishments like RGB lighting, "stealth" appearance,
               | etc. I'd love an elegantly designed, high-capacity
               | battery version.
               | 
               | The Asus ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition gets the best of
               | these features, with the one exception of lacking a mux
               | switch to turn off the integrated graphics when using the
               | dedicated graphics for even more performance on the
               | built-in screen. There are several YouTube videos that
               | cover this, amongst the best are Jarrod's Tech.
        
           | basilgohar wrote:
           | That's why I highlighted this boneheaded move by Lenovo
           | prominently in the article and also blasted them for it.
        
         | mfkp wrote:
         | It appears that the P14s AMD does support S3.
         | 
         | Comment from @chx on a different thread I found last week:
         | 
         | You can check which ThinkPad BIOS has the option at their BIOS
         | emulation site: https://download.lenovo.com/bsco/index.html
         | 
         | For mine it's under Config // Power // Sleep State. Windows 10
         | means useless Modern Standby, Linux means S3.
         | https://i.imgur.com/Y5CchL9.png
        
         | marcelnita wrote:
         | You must be referring to the T14s with the 16 GB RAM
         | limitation. The T14 has 8/16GB soldered and one free slot where
         | you can install another 16GB.
        
           | basilgohar wrote:
           | Not sure if you mean the Gen 1 or Gen 2 T14s, but as I
           | pointed out in the article, both the T14s Gen 2 and P14s Gen
           | 2 can be configured with up to 48GB of RAM, albeit with the
           | lopsided arrangement of 16GB being soldered on while the
           | remaining 32GB are in the upgradable slot as a regular
           | SODIMM.
           | 
           | I really feel an arrangement like this should be outlawed, it
           | really makes little to sense to not have both be regular,
           | upgradable SODIMMs like almost every other normal laptop.
        
         | basilgohar wrote:
         | This is why the high resolution screen options were so
         | important. The extra features are almost always available on
         | the smaller OEMs, such a Asus, Acer, MSI, etc., but rarely from
         | the tier-1 vendors (if that is the appropriate term). Hopefully
         | Lenovo doing this will encourage all the rest of the vendors to
         | start making more sensible design changes as well.
         | 
         | That's also the main motivation for me to call this out in such
         | a detailed article - people should have all the choices
         | available to them and not have them artificially directed to
         | "Intel -> quality, AMD -> value/compromise".
        
       | basilgohar wrote:
       | This was really big news for me, so I really put a lot into
       | documenting this important milestone and why I felt it was
       | important.
       | 
       | Also, it was my first time including an audio version, so feel
       | free to load the page and listen rather than read. Just forgive
       | the "first time-ed-ness" and my awkward mistakes. I did so many
       | retakes and still so many glitches made it into the final audio
       | recording.
        
       | xvilka wrote:
       | For now the biggest problem with modern laptops is the small
       | amount of RAM - most limited by 16Gb. In the age of Docker,
       | virtual machines, Electron applications and heavy Web
       | applications this amount is quickly insufficient.
        
         | basilgohar wrote:
         | All these laptops I mentioned in the article can go up to 32GB,
         | and two of them up to 48GB (albeit with unbalanced SODIMMs).
        
       | artfulhippo wrote:
       | On the day that Apple takes their next step forward, this
       | announcement is effusive over a 2560x1600 screen? Am I reading
       | this right?
        
         | oblak wrote:
         | Sure but Lenovo has been offering some AMD models with 90Hz
         | 2880x1800 panels for some time now
        
         | basilgohar wrote:
         | They have never been available for AMD laptops before this and
         | there are also, for the first time, 4k screens available on AMD
         | laptops. The title really does hit all the important points I
         | was trying to make, I believe. 2560x1600 is on the smallest of
         | the 3 laptops featured in the article.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | jikbd wrote:
         | It's not fair to compare MacBooks to Windows laptops.
        
       | cjblomqvist wrote:
       | Whatabout laptops like the Asus rog flow 13? It's been 4K and
       | possible to buy for half a year at least? Am I missing something?
        
       | babypuncher wrote:
       | By my math, a 4k laptop screen needs to be 20" diagonally before
       | the pixel density drops to a perceptible level. Any smaller than
       | that and the pixel density is so great that I don't think you are
       | getting any improvement to clarity at a typical laptop viewing
       | distance.
       | 
       | 20" laptops are a pretty rare occurrence today, even in the
       | desktop replacement space. Most laptops I see with 4k screens are
       | 13" to 17".
       | 
       | So my question is, why waste GPU cycles (and by extension,
       | battery) driving all these extra pixels?
        
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       (page generated 2021-10-18 23:02 UTC)